The First Protest In Space Sent A Powerful (And Sweary) Message To Trump

The first political protest has just hit space, according to the Autonomous Space Agency Network, or ASAN. ASAN is a Phoenix-based collective made up of scientists, engineers, artists and students with a passion for space. Wednesday marked the 56th anniversary of Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human in space. To celebrate, ASNA launched a weather balloon named Aphrodite 1, 90,000 feet into the air with a special message attached for our President.

The balloon reads, "@realDonaldTrump LOOK AT THAT YOU SON OF A BITCH,' using the famous quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell. The original quote was, "You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.' " The protest, while not technically in space but rather a fourth of the way to the Karman line (still pretty high up), was in coordination with the upcoming March for Science. The anonymous members of ASAN told The Washington Post, "We sought to send a message of protest to President Trump against his proposed budget cuts for NASA's Earth science program, which is invaluable to understanding climate change and making informed, data-driven policy decisions."

ASAN told The Washington Post that the launch of Aphrodite 1 was only the first of many planned projects in the works.

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